THE Scottish Government has claimed it has now “utterly disproved” the conspiracy theories around the Alex Salmond affair, after publishing more previously secret legal advice.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the material showed ministers did not unreasonably prolong their legal fight with Mr Salmond, or ignore advice from their outside lawyers.

It also debunked the idea “that there was a plot against Mr Salmond”, he said.

In a letter to the Holyrood inquiry into the Salmond affair, Mr Swinney said: “Mr Salmond has claimed that there was a 'malicious and concerted attempt' to damage his reputation.  

“The Scottish Government does not believe that the legal advice published from the judicial review provides any evidence to support or justify that allegation.”

READ MORE: Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon told to stop 'knocking hell out of each other in public'

The release is the third tranche of legal advice from the Government since Mr Swinney was threatened with losing his job in a no-confidence vote on Monday.

Until then, he had repeatedly refused to disclose the material despite increasingly angry requests from the inquiry and two votes of parliament in November.

The inquiry is looking at how the Government bungled a sexual misconduct probe into Mr Salmond in 2018, which he had set aside in a judicial review challenge.

After the late disclosure of damning information, the Government was forced to agree the process had been unfair, unlawful and “tainted by apparent bias”.

Mr Salmond was awarded above-average costs, leaving taxpayers with a £512,000 bill.

The former first minister and his supporters have claimed the Government failed to concede the case in good time, and that senior SNP personnel tried to have the judicial review shut down by whipping up a criminal investigation against Mr Salmond which would “overtake” it.

However legal advice released on Thursday showed the Government's law officers had advised against pausing or ‘sisting’ the judicial review case, even though a police investigation was underway, appearing to debunk the basis of Mr Salmond’s claim of a plot.

Legal advice released on Monday showed external counsel had identified a serious problem with the Government's case by October 21, 2018, yet ministers did not formally conceded until January 2019.

After the first lot of advice was released, the opposition complained about a gap in the timeline.

Where there was material from September, October and December 2018, there was nothing from November.

The Government has now released some material from November in response to the criticism.

READ MORE: New Government legal files appear to debunk Alex Salmond 'conspiracy theory'

In a statement, Mr Swinney said: “This addresses the unfounded and unfair criticism that the Scottish Government was seeking to suppress information about advice received during November 2018. 

“I am completely clear that these documents, taken in their entirety, utterly disprove the conspiracy theory that the Scottish Government delayed the concession of the judicial review or ignored advice from counsel, or that there was a plot against Mr Salmond.

“These documents demonstrate that the case became unstateable in late December and the Scottish Government conceded quickly afterwards in early January.

“The Scottish Government has now disclosed all of the formal written advice notes received from external Counsel during the judicial review which we have identified, as well as a number of other relevant previously legally privileged documents.

“I trust that when reading these documents in full, the public will have confidence that these allegations are simply not supported by the evidence.”

This is a developing story